New Desktop around £700

m5rcc

What about a...

Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4Ghz
Asus P8Z77-V LX mobo
16GB Corsair 1600mhz Vengeance (4x4GB)
2TB S-ATAIII 6.0Gb/s
22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB
Creative Audigy SE 7.1 PCI
Windows 7 Ultimate 64
3 Year Warranty

for £600 @DinoPC

robmar0se

socrates wrote: »

I have seen this machine for sale 2nd hand with 4 months warranty left

I have contacted Dell who say I can perform a transfer of ownership and upgrade any warranties now or later

Any thoughts?


Pristine condition. (Protective films still on)

Intel Core i5-2500 Processor(3.30GHz,6MB)
1.25GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti
SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Card 1 S
English Docs with UK/Irish Power Cord
6144MB (2x2048 + 2x1024) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
2TB Dual Hard Drive Raid 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7200RPM)
6X Blu-Ray ROM Combo (Blu-Ray read only, DVD, CD read & write) Drive
Dell Wireless 1520 (802.11n) Half Mini Card
Dell Laser USB (6 buttons scroll) Black Mouse
Dell Keyboard USB Black
English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64 BIT)
Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook

No monitor.

£580 OVNO. Pick up only.

Given up on trying to find one that will fit yr spec of 35 x 35cm?

socrates

robmar0se wrote: »

Given up on trying to find one that will fit yr spec of 35 x 35cm?

It would have been ideal but its proving impossible so have had to broaden my search so is that machine any good?

adamg02

How about one of the Nano systems from overclockers.co uk


Lian Li itx mini-ITX case 20cm by 32cm by 26cms – fits well into the under 35cm bracket, very nice case + Lian Li are quality cases.

The Nano 130i withXfx 6450 gfx upgrade and extra 60gb SSD comes in a few pence shy of £710. All quality parts too, which I’m not convinced you always get with Dell Overclockers is a respected site, with own community – I’ve had good service from them in the past.

Fair bit cheaper there is the Nano 120a, with 60GB SSD and same XFX Gfx card and Win7 Home Premium comes in at £505 – this comes with 4gb RAM, so call for an upgrade to 8gb for maybe an extra £40, probably less. Which comes to around £550 all in. (with both of these you can change the GFX card choice to suit as funds allow, and personally the extra 120gb SDD would be worth the slight extra cost +£24 over the 60gb model)

Main difference is you are getting a AMD dual core instead of a Intel quad core which you will have to decide for self if that is worth 160 quid (Oh and also own brand DVD drive with the AMD vs Samsung Blu-ray – I would probably get that upgraded too, most options are configurable with OCUK).

With both the above you might find the on-board graphics and sound card to be more than adequate for your needs (no gaming after all)- so perhaps hold back on that upgrade & purchase later if needed.

And re-reading requirements.. if you want more storage then I would ask them to replace the 500gb HDD with a 1TB… AMD still comes well in budget, Intel is slightly popping over now

socrates

adamg02 wrote: »

How about one of the Nano systems from overclockers.co uk


Lian Li itx mini-ITX case 20cm by 32cm by 26cms – fits well into the under 35cm bracket, very nice case + Lian Li are quality cases.

The Nano 130i withXfx 6450 gfx upgrade and extra 60gb SSD comes in a few pence shy of £710. All quality parts too, which I’m not convinced you always get with Dell Overclockers is a respected site, with own community – I’ve had good service from them in the past.

Fair bit cheaper there is the Nano 120a, with 60GB SSD and same XFX Gfx card and Win7 Home Premium comes in at £505 – this comes with 4gb RAM, so call for an upgrade to 8gb for maybe an extra £40, probably less. Which comes to around £550 all in. (with both of these you can change the GFX card choice to suit as funds allow, and personally the extra 120gb SDD would be worth the slight extra cost +£24 over the 60gb model)

Main difference is you are getting a AMD dual core instead of a Intel quad core which you will have to decide for self if that is worth 160 quid (Oh and also own brand DVD drive with the AMD vs Samsung Blu-ray – I would probably get that upgraded too, most options are configurable with OCUK).

With both the above you might find the on-board graphics and sound card to be more than adequate for your needs (no gaming after all)- so perhaps hold back on that upgrade & purchase later if needed.

And re-reading requirements.. if you want more storage then I would ask them to replace the 500gb HDD with a 1TB… AMD still comes well in budget, Intel is slightly popping over now

I am now starting to think that a quality sound card is more important than any graphics upgrade as I am not gaming

robmar0se

adamg02 wrote: »

How about one of the Nano systems from overclockers.co uk


Lian Li itx mini-ITX case 20cm by 32cm by 26cms – fits well into the under 35cm bracket, very nice case + Lian Li are quality cases.

The Nano 130i withXfx 6450 gfx upgrade and extra 60gb SSD comes in a few pence shy of £710. All quality parts too, which I’m not convinced you always get with Dell Overclockers is a respected site, with own community – I’ve had good service from them in the past.

Fair bit cheaper there is the Nano 120a, with 60GB SSD and same XFX Gfx card and Win7 Home Premium comes in at £505 – this comes with 4gb RAM, so call for an upgrade to 8gb for maybe an extra £40, probably less. Which comes to around £550 all in. (with both of these you can change the GFX card choice to suit as funds allow, and personally the extra 120gb SDD would be worth the slight extra cost +£24 over the 60gb model)

Main difference is you are getting a AMD dual core instead of a Intel quad core which you will have to decide for self if that is worth 160 quid (Oh and also own brand DVD drive with the AMD vs Samsung Blu-ray – I would probably get that upgraded too, most options are configurable with OCUK).

With both the above you might find the on-board graphics and sound card to be more than adequate for your needs (no gaming after all)- so perhaps hold back on that upgrade & purchase later if needed.

And re-reading requirements.. if you want more storage then I would ask them to replace the 500gb HDD with a 1TB… AMD still comes well in budget, Intel is slightly popping over now

Good post.

OP don't get hung up over the sound card, most onboard sound is 7.1 - the limiting factor being speakers - if however you want the option of a sound card they aren't expensive and as Adam says can be added very easily - see here for something that will definately put yr mind to rest.

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/7882450/art/creative/sound-blaster-x-fi-xtreme.html?srcid=369&CodePromo=oui

socrates

robmar0se wrote: »

Good post.

OP don't get hung up over the sound card, most onboard sound is 7.1 - the limiting factor being speakers - if however you want the option of a sound card they aren't expensive and as Adam says can be added very easily - see here for something that will definately put yr mind to rest.

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/7882450/art/creative/sound-blaster-x-fi-xtreme.html?srcid=369&CodePromo=oui

I use Sennheiser RS220 Wireless Headphones so the sound is very important BUT agreed its a very good post

socrates

So now due to the size aspect I have had to look at a totally different option

The budget has also gone out of the window!!

I am now looking at Chillblast this is their spec:

[FONT=&quot]
Chillblast Fusion Dagger Ultimate Mini PC[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]3.3GHz Core i5, 8GB, Radeon 6870[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Selected products:[/FONT]

Silverstone Sugo SG06B-300

Intel Core i5 2550K Processor 3.40 GHz (No Overclocking)

Intel Stock Cooler

Generic thermal paste

Asus P8H61-I Mini ITX Motherboard

8GB PC3-10666 1333MHz DDR3 Memory (2 x 4GB sticks)

Chillblast NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 LOW PROFILE 1024MB Graphics Card

60GB Corsair Force 3 Solid State Drive

2000GB 7200RPM Hard Disk - 6Gbps

Sony Notebook DVD±RW Drive

USB 54Mbps 802.11g Wireless Adaptor

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Standard Chillblast Cable Management

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD Sound Card External

Total Inclusive of VAT and shipping is £912.59

Includes 2 year return to base warranty

I get a nice sized hard drive SSD and a decent processor - I have had to go for an external Sound Card - not a major problem and importantly it fits in the space it needs to fit in to

I am also going to call Overclockers to get a comparison

robmar0se

Sounds good, but why an external sound card (extra cables etc!), also nearly 3 times the price of the same internal card? It may be the number of spare PCI slots limits this, but since the wireless setup doesn't need to be internal, there are lots of USB wireless dongles (Chillblast website refers to USB but shows a picture on an internal wireless card - which is it?).

Chillblast win a lot of awards for their setups

socrates

robmar0se wrote: »

Sounds good, but why an external sound card (extra cables etc!), also nearly 3 times the price of the same internal card? It may be the number of spare PCI slots limits this, but since the wireless setup doesn't need to be internal, there are lots of USB wireless dongles (Chillblast website refers to USB but shows a picture on an internal wireless card - which is it?).

Chillblast win a lot of awards for their setups

Its USB - but good thinking

Any other thoughts?